In the sixteenth century, wheellock pistols sometimes were combined with swords, knives, axes, maces, spears, and even crossbows, which could be used in the event the pistol misfired. Usually clumsy and impractical, combined weapons were nevertheless highly prized curiosities. On this example, the heavy, cleaverlike blade is etched with a calendar and the decorator's name.

Dean, Bashford, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of European Daggers: Including the Ellis, De Dino, Riggs, and Reubell Collections / by Bashford Dean. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929.